Shaun King: An Unarmed Pregnant Woman Was Killed By Police

I have a few issues I’d like to dig into this morning so I’ll just jump right in.

After spending most of the past 6 months targeting and attacking Congresswoman Ilhan Omar – who is the only refugee in Congress, the first woman to ever wear a hijab in Congress, and the only Black woman Muslim in Congress – yesterday Donald Trump and dozens of other prominent conservatives moved their attention over to my dear friend Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Detroit. And the pattern here is unmistakable. In 2018 Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib became the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress.

And here’s the thing – theoretically I knew that they were going to be targeted and harassed. In my mind, I knew that was going to happen, but seeing it is something altogether different.

Just as they did with Ilham Omar, they are lying about Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib – saying that she said something so outrageous, so preposterous, that I genuinely think it should be a crime to tell such a lie.

When I first saw it, I literally thought it was a hoax.

They are saying that Rashida said that “thinking of The Holocaust brings her comfort.” As soon as I saw it, I knew that it was a lie. I know Rashida personally. I know her family. She is a kind, compassionate soul and fights against all forms of bigotry. She works and fights against anti-Semitism all of the time. She works directly with Jewish groups fighting bigotry against Jews.

I then wondered if they were trying to say she said this 10 years ago or 20 years ago. Nah – they are saying she said that this weekend – on a popular podcast – out in the open for the world to hear. Take a moment to think about that.

Beyond the fact that she would never say such a thing because she doesn’t believe it – saying out loud that “thinking of the Holocaust brings you comfort” would immediately ruin anyone’s entire career. She did not say this. She did not kind of say it. She did not say something like this. And anyone saying she did – including Donald Trump – who has now targeted her and spread this lie to the world on Twitter – anyone who says she said this is a damn liar.

In fact, she said the exact opposite. She literally said that when she thinks of the horrors of the Holocaust, it gave her some measure of peace to know that her people, Palestinians, provided the land that was used as a refuge for Jews who escaped. When she said this, she said it just the way I told you. And for them to cut and paste just a few of her words out to say that she said the Holocaust itself gave her comfort is not just disingenuous, it’s dangerous.

We saw this happen with Ilhan Omar. When they lie about these women – and then when Donald Trump targets them – the death threats come flowing in. I am frequently ashamed by the state of affairs of this country. I am ashamed that Donald Trump is the President and ashamed that we have women being targeted, harassed, and threatened out in the open like this.

I’m grateful that Democrats have done a better job standing up for Rashida Tlaib, but even the national media has done a horrible job – covering her words like maybe they were true, maybe they weren’t.

I have to close to do with some horrible news that I just learned about early this morning from Bay Town, Texas right outside of Houston. People there are saying that an unarmed pregnant woman was shot and killed by police. I just saw the video moments ago and am not sure if I’ll be sharing it on my timelines because it is so awful.

In the video, you can hear the woman explaining to the officer that she is just walking to her home and that he’s harassing her. He then grabs her to handcuff her and she is clearly afraid. The officer then grabs his gun and appears to shoot her once in the leg. Or it could’ve been his Taser. It’s hard to tell. She stumbles on the ground. He then pulls out his gun and shoots her repeatedly while she is laying right there on the ground. He kills her right there on the spot. He is saying that he did so because she took his Taser, but it’s ugly no matter what.

I talked to several local organizers and activists this morning and we all agreed that what happened in that video simply would not happen to a white woman period. Again – explain to me how heavily armed mass murderers are taken alive after they slaughter schools and churches and mosques and synagogues and movie theatres full of people, but this woman, by herself, gets shot and killed.

As soon as I hang up, I’m going to do more investigating and I’ll let you all know what I find out.